GreenEyed Monster
by Bloodhawk 248
Summary: In which Saber is jealous, Shirou is clueless, and Rin is amused. Shirou/Saber.


Saber is a paragon of virtue. Not surprisingly, given that she is _King Arthur_ and thus can be credited with influencing almost every swords-and-sorcery fantasy tale ever produced. Her name is synonymous with chivalry, and her Knights' exploits are famous no matter where one goes. For the most part, she lives up to this reputation, being gentle, kind, and modest.

However, one of the few sins Saber possessed was jealousy (rather apt in this case, as she herself had green eyes), and in this case she felt quite justified in carrying this jealousy. After all, she was a superb swordswoman, one of the best in the country. She had even taught Lancelot and Gawaine, no slouches either of them, tricks. In fact, Lancelot had even formed a technique out of one of those tips; it had nearly killed her in the Fourth Grail War.

(She probably shouldn't have been surprised; at that time she had known full well who he was and what he was capable of. Kiritsugu had even called her out on it, once Lancelot had fallen.

"_...Saber, I've been wondering."_

"_Yes, Master?"_

"_You're King Arthur, King of Knights and master of the Round Table. Lancelot was your best knight, right? You must have sparred with him." Kiritsugu's face morphed into the familiar smirk. "So why exactly was he able to use your face to redecorate the ground?"_

(After a very threatening motion with Excalibur, Kiritsugu had relented, though he hadn't stopped smirking. To this day, she blamed it on the revelation of finding out her most loyal knight had been trying to kill her for a week.)

The point still stood; she was a supremely-skilled swordswoman, and a fairly decent teacher to boot. So it did offend her pride to see her Master/student stumble around, flailing with his shinai in a vain attempt to imitate a proper broadsword strike. If she had been serious, Emiya Shirou's dream would have ended. Many times. Very messily.

Even a brutal regimen inflicted upon him daily only saw a slight improvement in his speed and striking power; only barely enough to keep him alive against a Servant, and not nearly enough to fight beside her, as he wished. Honestly, it was rather disheartening.

Then the whole business at the Ryuudou Temple had happened, Archer had demonstrated why exactly Lancer had failed to kill him, and Shirou had come home with a completely new style of fighting...and was doing better than he ever had under her tutelage.

He wasn't ready to defeat a Servant yet, but he was improving faster with a style he'd only seen for about five minutes than the careful and disciplined regimen that Saber had put him through for days. And that was the problem.

Saber was a rather proud person, and justifiably so. Having essentially been outdone, especially by a Servant she did not particularly like, stung.

She eats more than usual during dinner, and after the tenth helping of sushi Shirou's face reddens and he rushes to the kitchen. Taiga simply laughs ("Saber-chan's hungry today, huh?), Sakura smiles but says nothing, and Rin fixes her with a knowing stare. Saber resists the urge to huff and demolishes another bowl of rice.

(She knows Archer is there, watching, and she won't give him the pleasure of seeing her angry. He's too perceptive, sometimes.)

After the fifteenth bowl of rice, even Taiga looks slightly queasy, and Sakura excuses herself, hurrying off to the bathroom. Rin simply smiles, like a demon.

"Oh, Saber." She sings, not even bothering to conceal her mirth. "Are you sure you should eat that much? Even with your metabolism, you might put on some weight."

Saber directs a glare at her. "I appreciate your concern, Rin, but it is unwarranted. I will be fine." Another bowl of rice disappears. "Shirou, more please."

Shirou makes as if to rush the rice-cooker, but Rin holds up a hand. "Wait, Emiya-kun." Her smile is positively evil. Saber had killed men for wearing smiles much less monstrous than that. "It's not good for Saber's health if she eats so much...I think maybe you two should go train for a bit." The Tohsaka family heir shoots a wicked grin at Shirou.

"Yeah, go train with Saber-chan." Taiga's grin is almost as wide as Rin's. "She'll keep you on your toes!'

Saber shakes her head. "I apologize, but I am still quite hungry." The last thing she wants to see is Shirou using Archer's dance-like, unorthodox style. "Shirou, more please."

"Uh...Saber, we don't have any more." Shirou blurts, rubbing his head sheepishly. "We're all out of sushi and rice. I can cook more, but that'll take another half-hour or so..."

Was the world really going to subject her to this? Fine. She would accept her fate like a true king and knight. She stands up and marches over to Shirou, grabbing his arm.

"Come, Shirou. We must prepare."

"Saber, wait-agh!"

"What was that all about?" Sakura asked curiously, having just returned from the bathroom. "Saber-san seemed angry at Senpai."

"It's probably nothing." Rin smirked, idly changing the television channel. "She'll get it out of her system once they're done hitting each other with sticks."

_Don't you mean _Saber _hitting Emiya with a stick? _Archer's mental voice was clearly amused.

_He might get lucky. She tends to pull her punches a little more than she should. I wonder if he even realizes why she's angry?_

_Oh, he does. He won't broach the subject though, I can guarantee you._

_Well, _Rin smiled, changing the channel again. _At least she'll have fun._

As he parried and dodged frantically, Emiya Shirou wondered why his life had to include demonic magi, Holy Grail Wars, and monsters from hell attempting to kill him with blunt sticks.

Even if this particular monster was prettier than most.

Saber pressed forward relentlessly, face set and focused. Each strike came with blistering speed and precise timing; his own shinai was kept busy diverting and blocking each hit so that he couldn't even try to strike back. If he had been using her style, he would probably be on the ground, sore in too many different places to count. As it was, he was surviving, if only barely.

That seemed to make her angrier.

A thrust slipped past his defenses with enough force to make him grunt, and another slash numbed his shoulder. He grunted again and parried another few blows, then decided it wasn't good enough.

A two-handed strike swept downward to smash him to the floor, and he sidestepped, spinning gracefully, and brought his shinai around to smack solidly into Saber's left side. For the next few moments, the two stared at each other, not daring to blink.

Then Saber huffed and put her shinai back onto the rack. Green eyes glared at Shirou.

"I believe that is enough for today. If you will excuse me, I wish to finish my dinner." If anything, she was even angrier than before.

"Okay, Saber, what's wrong? You're very angry today."

"I am not angry. I am simply obeying my Master's commands and practicing with him." The Servant placed her hands on her hips.

"No, you're definitely angry..." Shirou wracked his brain for anything he had done today that would upset her. He had insisted on cooking breakfast, so that couldn't be it...

"Oh." Dread hit him like a sledgehammer. He looked down. "Is this about my style?"

"I would hardly qualify it as your style, seeing as you copied it from another Servant. It is most likely an inferior copy, too, judging by how briefly you spent observing it." Saber's eyes burned emerald green.

"Uh..." Shirou scratched his head. "If it was so inferior, why didn't you break through it? Were you holding back?"

Saber gave him a glance that chilled his bone marrow. "I," she said with an air of supreme contempt, "was simply determining the errors in the style, and there are many."

Shirou still didn't understand. "So why did I win, then?"

"You did not." Saber growled.

"Uh...you forfeited. I think that counts-"

"You did _not _win!" For a moment the air seemed to darken, as mana crackled around his Servant's form. "To think that I could be bested by such an inferior, error-ridden style copied with haste from a knight who defies the rules of chivalry-"

"Okay, okay!" Shirou held up both hands. "I lost, you won, Archer's a crappy teacher, and you're much cuter than he is anyway!" Immediately, he realized what he had just said and clapped a hand to his mouth.

The mana storm dissipated immediately. The King of Knights smiled, and touched Shirou's cheek with one hand.

"It is good to see you speak sense again, Shirou. I was worried that you might have contracted a fever. Regardless, I am happy that you have regained your rationality. Now, might I have another bowl? I am quite hungry." She breezed away.

Shirou stared slack-jawed at her retreating back. "I'm doomed. One of these days, I'll mess up and she'll kill me, I swear." He muttered.

Despite his words, a slow smile curved his lips, and one hand reached up to finger his cheek.

Back inside the dining room, Rin smirked.


End file.
